Andrew Gower Brings Back the Beauty of Black and White Storytelling With Gustaffson’s New Music Video “On Broadway”

Andrew Gower may be best known for his career on the small screen, having appeared in fan-favorite series like Being Human, Outlander, Black Mirror, Poldark, to name only a few, but his star is rapidly rising as a musician. Gower formed Gustaffson in 2020 with his longtime friend and guitarist James “Webbo” Webster, and their debut album, Black & White Movie, is set to be released at the end of January 2025. In anticipation of its arrival, the band is putting out three singles—including “On Broadway,” which is accompanied by a gorgeous music video.




Ahead of the debut of “On Broadway,” I caught up with Gower to have an extended conversation about the music video, as well as his acting and musical career. Be sure to come back in November to discover more about Gustaffson’s “Flowers” music video, which arrives on November 15.

“On Broadway” is a vintage tale about the beautiful cruelty of a New York winter, and the music video takes a unique approach to this theme by intertwining the brutal coldness of black and white storytelling with the vibrant warmth of stage lights. The music video stars The Gentleman’s breakout star Daniel Ings as Wilton, under the keen direction of Daredevil’s Andy Goddard. Wilton is a tortured artist, pining for his next performance on stage, and the music video makes a compelling play that sees Wilton “replace” Gower as the crooning vocalist, blurring the line between music and film.



How Liverpool Influenced Andrew Gower’s Musical Career

“They created the rule book for rock and roll and for songwriting.”

Andrew Gower in promo image for his band Gustaffson
Image via Gustaffson

To fully understand Gustaffson, you have to understand where Gower’s passion for music began. Born and raised in Liverpool, Gower grew up in England’s only City of Music to produce countless musicians, including, perhaps most notably, The Beatles. But when did it all begin for the band’s singer-songwriter? He began writing lyrics when he was around 15 years old.

“I’ve always been obsessed with storytelling in general, but the lyric book in an album was my go-to. I used to go into my brother’s room or my granddad’s record collection, and I’d be straight for the lyrics. That was the beginning.”


As the youngest of three boys, Gower joked that his brother used to say, “‘Stop singing! Stop it, it’s annoying.’” Luckily, he didn’t listen to them. “Finding a band and people to hone that love of writing and people going, ‘I could put a guitar riff to your lyrics.’ There’s something amazing about having something written on a piece of paper, and then you get to present it to a band.”

His early interest in lyricism makes even more sense when you consider his favorite member of The Beatles: George Harrison. “I have a joke with my band, Gustaffson, that he’s the unsung Beatle, the one that my eye was always on — the underdog.” As he went on to explain:


“He spent enough time with the prolific John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney] to learn how to write a song, but then when he did it, the, not simplicity, I think that is a disservice to his guitar solos,
but the purity of his lyrics, the simplicity of his lyrics.
I mean, my favorite Beatles song out of all of them — it can change — is “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” There’s a moment in that where he looks at the world, he looks at the floor, and then the final lyric of his song, he just uses silence. So he says, ‘I look at you all,’ and he doesn’t fill it with the floor or the world, he doesn’t describe what he’s thinking, but that is his genius. That simplicity. The audience can almost fill the blank in themselves.”

Even with the first five tracks that Gustaffson has released ahead of “On Broadway,” listeners can hear Harrison’s influence on the band. Gower’s lyrics are meant to evoke a conversation—to make people think deeper about the themes at play.


“As songwriting goes, the storytelling at its heart and the fact that, as a band from Liverpool, obviously that helped, as a band, they never fell into a box. People would put them in a box, and they’d rip it open, and they’d rip up the rulebook. They created the rule book for rock and roll and for songwriting and for bands making music and how that is. Before Brian Epstein managed The Beatles, there were no rules. They created them and learned the hard way, as well, about selling music.
That’s the purity of The Beatles, of four men talking about love or talking about drugs, and rock and roll, or talking about their past of growing up in Liverpool.
I can listen to Revolver or The White Album, and you can hone in on one song, and it will become more relevant to you at different stages of your life. [T]he essence of The Beatles is the songwriting.”

Before There Was Gustaffson, There Was Emerson

“I just went on that journey, still writing and still always knowing that music plays such a pivotal role in my life and always will.”

Andrew Gower and his band Gustaffson
Image via Gustaffson


Like many people, my first introduction to Andrew Gower’s career was via Frankenstein’s Wedding… Live in Leeds (more on that in November), which saw the fresh-faced actor singing in front of a live audience at Kirkstall Abbey and on BBC Three. From there, I quickly discovered that he was the frontman for a band called Emerson, which he had started with his friends when he was a teenager. Emerson disbanded shortly after Gower graduated from drama school, though several of their tracks can still be found on the internet.

While Emerson may be a name that Gower hasn’t heard in a while, he was quite eager to reflect on that period of his life. “That was before I went to drama school,” he said. “And at drama school, there was never a choice. It was never: ‘Be in a band’ and then ‘Don’t be in a band.’ I wasn’t choosing acting or music. It was more the fact that my drama school, the Oxford School of Drama, was in the middle of nowhere, I didn’t have much money. My principal was like, ‘Focus on your acting.’ So even though I kept writing, I just put all that on hold with Emerson.” He continued:


“Then, typically with all bands and life, I mean, sometimes there’s a reason why a lot of new musicians who come through have youth on their side, because by the time I finished drama school, they’d all moved on [from] the Emerson band. I was lucky enough to land jobs as an actor, and
I just went on that journey, still writing and still always knowing that music plays such a pivotal role in my life and always will.
But I guess I didn’t have that vehicle of Emerson to put my words into.”

With Emerson, Gower and the band were able to achieve something that any fan of The Beatles would be envious of. They played The Cavern Club, which is hailed as The Birthplace of The Beatles.


“Yeah, my Auntie Barbara — she still tells me this — used to go to the Cavern Club every Thursday and queue up with a sausage roll to watch The Beatles. And it was just the kind of flippancy of that sentence, that she was there at the beginning, and Cilla Black’s in the queue. For me — I was 16 or 17, I probably shouldn’t have been out, Maggie. I shouldn’t have been out of the house — to go and play there was… yeah. You know when you go into a building, I always say, if the walls could speak. I advise anybody, especially you, when you’re in Liverpool, get down Matthew Street and go to the Cavern Club.”

There’s something poetic in the way that Gower explains his aunt’s stories of watching The Beatles in their early days. It meshes perfectly with his ability to make something mundane feel uniquely profane within his lyrics, and it’s something that is evident in each of Gustaffson’s music videos.

Andrew Gower Wanted to Find a Niche in Music — And He Did

“I think storytelling is at the heart of every medium, and I felt like music maybe needed that more.”

Daniel Ings as Wilton in the poster for the On Broadway music video for Andrew Gower's band Gustaffson


2020 was a pivotal year in the lives of many a person, particularly for those of the creative persuasion who were looking for outlets while in isolation. For Gower, the pandemic pushed him to do more than just put pen to paper and write lyrics. He was ready to make music again. “I was on a show, Carnival Row. The idea of, again, writing. Still writing. My books are endless, full of notes. I’ve got this weird saying I have, which is, ‘I’ve been writing, but I’m still years behind all the ones who stuck it out at 17 years old.’ It’s the lyric I wrote. It doesn’t feature on the album. I was in the Czech Republic, [in] Prague, and the world stopped.”

Gower went on to explain how his experience as an actor ultimately influenced his decision to start a band again. “I’ve been so lucky as an actor to be a part of so many people’s worlds—amazing writers—and when I finish the job, I kind of hand over my performance, and that belongs to a studio or that belongs to a director of a film.” He added:


“I’ve loved that since I graduated at 21, but there came a point, I think for a lot of people during COVID, where I was like, ‘Look, I wanna say something as Andrew. I want to comment on where I grew up. I wanna tell the stories, especially of the world I’ve experienced within the TV and film world, as well. I wanna share that.’
I guess I noticed there was a niche in music that I’ve always thought hasn’t been filled and maybe hasn’t been as nourished these days as it was, maybe in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and that is for storytelling.
I think storytelling is at the heart of every medium, and I felt like music maybe needed that more.”

Gower is as skilled at networking as he is at storytelling. Even a cursory glance at Gustaffson’s frequent collaborators will yield obvious connections to Gower’s previous projects. That keen ability to make friends and connections led to the band’s first EP, as he explained:


“I was on the phone to my guitarist, “Webbo,” James Webster, who I’ve known since I was 12 years old. We stayed in touch, and we always had that, ‘We’re gonna do it…’ But it was COVID where I said, ‘Look, we’re gonna do it.’ And then it wasn’t until I bumped into Craig Potter on a film set, Running Naked. Craig Potter from Elbow was doing the composing for that, and all those worlds came together. He asked me, ‘Who’s making your EP?’ And I said, ‘Nobody.’ He’s like, ‘Well, can I do it?’ So, yeah, it’s a very amazing, amazing journey. Crazy journey.”

“On Broadway” Is a “Theatrical Tale of Injustice”

“We knew we wanted to tell a story of a social outsider, a frustrated performer who is disillusioned with the [industry].”


“On Broadway” is the first of three singles that Gustaffson is putting out ahead of the premiere of their debut album, Black & White Movie. It’s a fitting track to start with, as it really showcases the band’s ability to transport audiences back in time to an era where music didn’t feel overproduced or neatly packaged for mass consumption. “On Broadway” isn’t necessarily a track you expect to hear on every radio station, but it is the sort of song one might sway to in the back corner of a speakeasy. That’s the sort of magic that comes to life in the music video, as Daniel Ings’ Wilton listens to Gower’s mesmerizing singing.

As with Gustaffson’s EPs, the music video for “On Broadway” came together with the help of Gower’s former colleagues. “I worked with Andy Goddard on Carnival Row. He’s been a huge director of “On Broadway.” He’s been such a huge advocate, and I’m such an admirer of his work. His film, Set Fire to the Stars, his work on Daredevil, amazing TV, and he’s been such an advocate for the band and the music and has been to many a gig.”


So how did they decide that “On Broadway” would be the first track they released from Black & White Movie? It came down to its themes, Gower told me. “We were in the studio, and we were discussing, out of all the 13 songs, what’s the song you put out first? It’s so weird. I can’t believe we’re even having that discussion. “On Broadway” was a theatrical tale of injustice with amazing brass and a beautiful piano part. It tells such an iconic story of a city that we all know so well, but it’s a tale of injustice. It ticked every box that we wanted our audience to be taken by surprise with, no pun intended if you know the song. That collaboration with Andy was a natural thing.”

As Gower noted, the album consists of thirteen tracks. “They’re their own stories, but we’ve treated them, in a sense, like they’re their own vignettes of films, black and white movies. “On Broadway,” we knew it was gonna be in black and white.” He went on to say:


“We knew we wanted to tell a story of a social outsider, a frustrated performer who is disillusioned with the music industry or the acting industry, and he’s waiting for his moment to channel his emotions, those pent-up emotions. I [have spoken] to several actors [and] musicians who are forever waiting for their opportunity in the wings. Wilton, which Daniel [Ings] plays, I worked with him on The Winter King, and I’ve just loved his career from afar for years and years and years, and the fact that he agreed to do this and bring all of his expertise — what a performer. We were so excited that he said yes to playing Wilton and brought the video alive.”


While Gower and the band do appear in the music video, it was never his intention to use the band’s videos as a gateway for his own performances. But it worked out that way for “On Broadway,” as he told me, “Even as Andrew, being in a music video for Gustaffson was never my aim. It’s not my goal. I always imagine presenting these singles as their own little vignettes, and the fact Daniel really turned up to set knowing every single lyric with a character, and Andy created this amazing world in Wilton’s musical, it’s just a joy to create a short film, in a sense, that we can present to an audience. It elevates the music above and beyond anything the band ever thought.”

With our conversation about The Beatles, and their manager Brian Epstein in mind, I made note of the fact that “On Broadway” reminded me of the short film Humpty Fu*king Dumpty, which saw Gower star as the failed musician Tommy Quickly. The film, like the music video, was shot in black and white, and was set largely on the stage of a theater. While the comparison may not be intentional, Gower spoke to the influence of black and white cinematography for the album.


“The album is called Black & White Movie. It’s a vintage record in a modern algorithmic world. That was our tagline when we went in the studio. We wanted to create something that helps with the blues of the modern algorithm. I’ve always been a lover of black and white. The film Birdman is a constant reference. It was a constant reference to the workings of a theatre.”

In discussing the composition of “On Broadway,” more connections were made between Gustaffson and the kismet of Gower’s career and where the band is headed. “Again, we spoke about energy before with the Cavern — if the walls could speak — and Wilton, in “On Broadway,” is communicating with the stage, and we do have that as performers. There’s a pulse to what we do, and there’s a pulse to these buildings, especially [on] Broadway. The song is written [about] a New York winter; the beautiful injustice of a New York show. It’s the precipice of failure to success in life is like a show on Broadway.”


Gower continued, “It was mad you mentioned Humpty Fu*king Dumpty, but it just shows my adoration for that era and for a building. That was at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, where Gustaffson had been since, and again, another building that can talk. Wilton’s Music Hall is the oldest theatre in London, where the Cable Street riots happened, an amazing, amazing place.”

After I noted how most people view black and white films as feeling cold, and yet “On Broadway” possesses so much warmth, Gower praised the music video’s director of photography for bringing it all together. “It’s funny how, with black and white, you can still get so much texture and warmth and coldness. It is a great work by Henry Gill, our DP on that. Andy was so thorough with the two worlds. You should almost feel at the beginning of the music video that you’re kind of invading Wilton’s space. Then, the performative element, where he gets lost in the performance, almost feels somewhat dreamlike.”


That dreamlike quality is ever-present in not only Gustaffson’s music videos, but in their music too. You can get lost in the performance of “On Broadway” now, and pre-order Black & White Movie today. Be sure to check back in on November 15 for the second half of our conversation to support the release of “Flowers.”

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